


Now's my time to shine!

by Emma_with_her_head_in_the_clouds



Series: Trouble seems to find me... [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-21 13:45:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14286213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emma_with_her_head_in_the_clouds/pseuds/Emma_with_her_head_in_the_clouds
Summary: Peter and Ned are both super-excited when Tony Stark invites them to a party at the Avengers' compound. But when the party gets attacked, it might be down to them to save the day...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is probably going to be the final part of the series. I thought I'd post what I've written so far (which may be a mistake, because I haven't got an ending yet, and may find I need to rewrite it all...)

Tony reviewed the footage of the bridge incident from Peter's suit when he got back from his trip. Not because he needed to; to be honest he probably shouldn't be doing because he's trying not to invade Peter's privacy too much. The tracking watch is probably already a step too far, but he only reviews the data when he needs to/when F.R.I.D.A.Y. highlights something to him, and it helps reassure aunt May (or at least that's what he tells himself). But he wanted to watch this. Mainly because he thought it would be funny. Turns out Rhodey is kid-phobic (or at least it seems that way), so watching him work alongside Peter might be a laugh. Tony wishes he knew that Rhodey was scared of kids years ago; he'd have started bringing round random kids sooner! Wait, did that sound creepy? It probably sounded creepy. Scratch that idea. 

Although Peter wasn't actually an Avenger, Tony still argued (to himself), that reviewing how well he worked as a team was important. That would be his excuse for watching the footage if anyone asked anyway.

He found the part where Rhodey was left holding a random baby, trying to get rid of it, oddly hilarious. He wishes he could have seen his face at that point, but unfortunately his friend hadn't lifted his faceplate yet, and had refused to let him put a camera in his suit (sure, Tony could have stuck one in anyway, but considering the lack of Avengers right now, he couldn't really afford to piss any more off).

He probably would have found the part where Peter disappeared into a hole in the bridge funny too, if he wasn't always worrying about the kid. That moment could have ended a hell of a lot worse if Peter hadn't happened to be still webbed to the bridge. He didn't want to think about it.

Tony closed the video (but saved the part with Rhodey and the baby, for possible future use). He happened to start looking through a couple of old videos, reminiscing, and suddenly had the urge to throw a party. He'd not thrown a good party in ages. They'd put a function room in the Avengers' base but not really used it. They'd not had that much to celebrate recently. But hey, he was Tony Stark. He didn't need much of a reason to throw a party. Hell, the pre-Iron Man him didn't need any reason. He'd matured a lot since then, but that didn't mean he couldn't still organise a good night. It'd be good for team morale!

***

Tony had already made a lot of progress organising the party by the time he met with Peter for training, later in the week.  
"Have you ever been in the function room?" Tony asked as he flew down the corridor past it, with Peter quickly pursuing him, crawling along the walls, web-swinging and leaping. "I'm finally going to make use of it. We're having a party in there, next Friday."  
"Oh, cool," Peter gasped, slightly out of breath and trying to keep up with the Iron Man suit.  
"You should bring your aunt," Tony added after a short while.  
"Wait, what? I'm invited?"  
"What, you thought I was just telling you to rub your nose in it?"  
"I thought you were making conversation…" Peter muttered, slightly, embarrassed.  
"I don't do "making conversation". What I do do is throw awesome parties. Trust me kid, you and your aunt will have a great time!"  
"Actually, I'm not sure if aunt May will be able to make it. She tends to work Friday evenings."  
"Tell her to skive," Tony suggested. "Or why don't you bring a date?" He turned around, watching Peter stumble out of surprise at that suggestion. He couldn't see his face because of the mask, but knew it would be bright red.  
"What!? Erm… no… I…" Tony enjoyed watching him squirm for a bit, before interrupting to put him out of his misery.  
"You don't have to if you don't want. I guess it would probably be hard to explain to your date how you know all the Avengers." Peter nodded in agreement, then had a thought.  
"Can I invite Ned?"  
"Who's Ned?"  
"My friend. He already knows I'm Spider-Man, so that wouldn't be a problem. He's the one who helped me hack the suit…"   
"Good idea! Bring Ned!" Tony agreed enthusiastically. He'd not met Ned yet, but based on the way he managed to help Peter hack into the Spider-suit and remove his "training wheels protocol", he must be pretty skilled at computers. Tony was interested to meet him. If he actually did real internships, rather than just fake alibi ones, it sounded like Ned might perhaps be someone who he'd be interested in offering one too. If nothing else, meeting Ned might give Tony a new way to embarrass Peter, and that was always fun.

***

Ned was so excited when Peter told him about the party.  
"OMG! Will Mr Stark be there!?"  
"He's the one throwing the party, so yes, he's going to be there."  
"War Machine?"   
"I would imagine so."  
"Vision?"  
"Erm, I'm not sure." That one had Peter stumped. It was meant to be a party for the Avengers, but Peter couldn't exactly imagine Vision at a party. "I guess so?"  
"What about Captain America?"  
"Pretty sure he's still… somewhere. So I doubt it."  
"That sucks. But it still sounds like this party's going to be awesome!"

"What party's going to be awesome?" MJ interrupted. Peter and Ned both went quiet, looking at each other in mild panic. With his Spider-senses, Peter really should have heard her coming. Or just generally predicted her arrival; it was lunchtime after all, and she did usually eat with them.  
"Oh, it's just this event at my internship. I'm allowed to bring a guest, and I said Ned could come, because I thought he'd like talking with some of the people I work with," Peter told her, trying not to lie, but at the same time, make it sound boring.  
"Well fine, maybe one day I'll forgive you for snubbing me!" MJ exclaimed, but they could tell she was being sarcastic and held no hard feelings. 

***

"Oh no!" Peter called out, causing Ned to poke a head out of the bathroom door. They were both getting ready for the party in Peter's apartment. May was at work so it was just the two of them there.  
"What's the problem?"  
"I should have tried this on again before!" Peter exclaimed, stepping out of his bedroom in the suit he wore to Homecoming. Homecoming didn't seem that long ago (well, in some ways it did. In some ways it felt an age ago). Peter hadn't realised how much he'd grown since then. Not until he'd put on the suit. It was a bit short now, but was also weirdly tight in places, which surprised Peter. He wasn't aware that his arms had got bigger; it wasn't like he was always at the gym working on his guns. Like sure, if he went, he would be able to bench-press a huge weight, but that was just the strength that came from his spider-powers, rather than muscle bulk. But seemingly his biceps had grown, meaning he was barely able to bend his arms without risking tearing the jacket. "I look ridiculous!"  
"No you don't!" Ned was quick to disagree. "Why don't you… roll your sleeves up a bit, then you won't be able to tell they're too short," he started suggesting, thinking of how to help the situation. The rolled up sleeve look was something he'd seen Tony Stark do, so surely that meant it was cool? "And can you, I don't know, maybe wear your trousers a bit lower, so they won't look as short?" Peter awkwardly pulled his suit trousers down to a point lower than he normally would wear them (but still higher than a lot of people seemed to wear their pants these days). "There! Since your socks are practically the same colour, you can hardly tell the trousers a bit short!" Peter didn't look like he entirely agreed.   
"I still look like some weird child who can't dress properly. I'm going to be an embarrassment!"  
"No you're not, you're Spider-Man and you're super cool. And honestly, you look fine. Though maybe you shouldn't move too much…"

At that point, Peter's phone buzzed. It was Happy saying he was outside. Of course, Happy was off to the party too, and Peter had tried to insist that he could make his own way there, not wanting Happy to have to waste time coming to pick him and Ned up before the party. But Happy had rejected that idea, saying that there was no reason he couldn't collect them. "What, do you think I'm going to spend hours before the party getting ready or something?" he'd asked him, sarcastically.  
"Happy's outside. Are you sure I won't look an idiot? Maybe I should just say something came up, and I can't make it?"  
"Are you really going to deny me the opportunity to go to a party with the Avengers?" Ned asked. Peter sighed.  
"No. Come on, lets go."

"Hey Happy!"  
"Hey," Happy returned with his usual level of unenthusiasm, nodding in greeting to both Peter and Ned. He'd not actually met Ned before, but had seen him outside the school on occasions when he'd picked Peter up, and of course Ned had called him (and he'd hung up) on the night when Peter had last worn the suit. In hindsight, hanging up on Ned wasn't the best decision Happy ever made, but he wasn't going to tell him that.   
"Are you excited about the party?" Ned asked him after they'd climbed into the car. Happy's only reply was a scowl into the rear-view mirror. Was this kid going to be even chattier than Peter tended to be?


	2. Chapter 2

There was already quite a lot of people milling around the function room when they arrived. Happy ditched them as soon as humanly possible, with a vague nod goodbye, disappearing off towards a small circle of people. Peter gazed around, looking for people he recognised. Almost immediately he made eye contact with Mr Stark, who came over to greet them.  
"Ned, looking sharp!" he told him, doing finger guns. Ned beamed so much, but couldn't think to get a word out in reply.  
"Peter, looking… hench?" Tony added, sounding kind of surprised. Peter went red.  
"I'm sorry. I should have tried the suit on again before. I look ridiculous…" he started rambling, embarrassed.  
"No you don't. But looks like maybe you might end up taller than me after all…" Tony disagreed, and started calculating in his head how long it would take Peter to outgrow him, based on the height gain his suit indicated.  
"Well, that's not a hard feat is it?" Rhodey added, coming up behind Tony, putting his hands on his shoulders. "Hey, Peter," he added.  
"Hi… Rhodes," Peter replied, remembering what Rhodey had told him to call him when they teamed up. "This is my friend Ned."  
"Hi!" exclaimed Ned, "I'm so excited to meet you guys! I think you're awesome!" Rhodey laughed at that, slightly awkwardly.  
"Well, thank you! Erm… it's nice to meet you too."

Tony pulled Peter aside for a minute, leaving Rhodey to struggle to converse with a very hyper Ned.  
"Since you're growing so fast, why don't I take you shopping tomorrow, and we'll get you another suit? Then you won't have to worry about the size of your spider-biceps next time I throw a party. Though, I guess I'll have to make sure I don't wait too long, or you'll have grown again!"  
"You don't have to do that, Mr Stark."  
"No, but I want to. Actually wait, no…" [Peter's face fell for a second], "…tomorrow I'll probably be hungover. Lets say Sunday. I'm thinking this isn't going to be a two day hangover type of a night…" (On the one hand, Tony had really cut his drinking back since his wild partying days. On the other, his age seemed to be annoyingly catching up with him, and like-for-like, hangovers lasted longer than they used to). As soon as he'd said that, Tony accepted a glass of champagne from a passing-by waiter, and downed half of it. "There should be non-alcoholic drinks… somewhere," he told Peter, vaguely glancing around the room. He spotted someone waiting to talk to him. "Enjoy the night, kid!"

Peter turned back to Ned and Rhodey, who made a swift exit.  
"I'm meeting Avengers! This is so cool!" Ned exclaimed, "Is that Vision!?" Peter looked over in the direction Ned was looking. Vision was wearing a suit. Like an actual suit suit. To be honest, it looked really strange. He saw Peter looking in his direction and came over.  
"Good evening Mr Parker. Are you enjoying the festivities?"  
"Well, we've only just arrived, but yes. This is my friend Ned by the way."  
"It's nice to meet you, Mr Leeds," Vision greeted. Ned, continuing his common habit by referring to people by their surnames. Ned's excitement nearly went through the roof.  
"Oh my God! Vision knows my name! Vision knows who I am!"  
"Yes. Mr Parker speaks very highly of you." Peter couldn't particularly recall speaking to Vision about Ned, but guessed he must have done at one time or another. It wasn't surprising really. He did tend to talk a lot, and when he wasn't talking about Spider-Man stuff, a lot of the rest of the stuff he tended to talk about probably did involve Ned. Ned couldn't get any words out now, so Peter thought it best to change the topic.  
"How are you enjoying the party, Vision?  
"I'm meeting some very interesting new people," Vision replied (but not specifying whether he was _enjoying_ meeting them all). Just as he said that, a man walked up to them, looking at Vision in a slightly bemused way, then ignoring him.

"So, I hear you're Tony Stark's intern," the man addressed Peter. The way he said "intern" suggested that he perhaps knew the true nature of Peter's relationship with Tony. Or perhaps he was simply surprised that Tony Stark had an intern. Or was insinuating something else.  
"Yes, I am," Peter replied, planning on saying more, perhaps introducing himself and Ned properly, but not getting the chance.  
"So, what's it like?" the man asked, in a bold voice.  
"Oh, it's really interesting," Peter started, this time getting interrupted by Vision.  
"Why don't we go get you a drink?" Vision suggested, steering Peter and Ned away from the man and giving him a dirtier look than Peter believed the android was capable of.  
"We'll talk later!" the man called after them, smirking and seemingly unperturbed by Vision shepherding the boys away from him.

They found the non-alcoholic drinks Mr Stark had referred to earlier, and stood drinking them and chatting together near the edge of the room. Vision had left them to it once he was satisfied the man hadn't followed them. He seemed really distrustful of him for some reason. They spotted various people they recognised (mainly just from the media, but there were a few people Peter had actually met). Tim, one of the Avengers' personal trainers, had stopped briefly to talk to them, introducing them to his wife. Dr Treford, who had treated Peter after he nearly drowned, asked him if he was well, and enquired whether they were drinking alcoholic drinks. "Good, good," he replied when they told him they weren't (but they saw that he himself seemed to be knocking back the alcohol at a decent rate).

Suddenly Peter felt Ned squeezing his arm.  
"Dude, is that the Black Widow!?" he asked, looking in awe at a woman who had just entered. She had a bob of bright red hair, and was wearing a black dress with a slit right up the thigh. Ned wasn't the only person in the room looking her way.  
"Yes, I think it is," Peter replied. He'd only briefly met her once (apart from during the fight in Germany). She didn't tend to hang around the compound much at all. He hadn't been expecting her to be there tonight.  
"Awesome! Introduce me!"  
"I don't really know her." Peter answered honestly. On seeing the disappointed look on Ned's face he added, "Maybe we might end up talking with her later."

They wandered around the edge of the room a bit more, speaking to a few people but mainly keeping to themselves; not in an anti-social way, but they were both happy in just their own company. They bumped into Mr Stark again, who seemed reasonably drunk by this point. Pepper was with him too, and Peter chatted with her for a bit, with Tony occasionally interrupting with jokes (and Ned mainly just nodding along enthusiastically).

They were just thinking about going to find a loo, when a drunk woman accidentally walked into Peter and spilt her drink down him. She profusely offered him slurred apologies, whilst her partner tried to hold her up (he looked pretty drunk too). Peter quickly insisted it was fine, and moved away from them. He looked down at himself when they were a safe enough distance away to not look rude.  
"I think I'd better change. There's some spare T-shirts and trackies in my room here." To be honest, he wasn't all that upset about it, because although he'd almost forgotten about it, he was reminded how self-conscious he was feeling in his too-small suit anyway. Most people now seemed drunk enough that they wouldn't notice he'd changed into casual wear.  
"Can I come too!?" Ned asked, then realising what he said sounded weird, added, "To see your room I mean."  
"Yeah, sure."

They headed out of the function room. However, the door to the corridor wouldn't open.  
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., can you let us through?" Peter asked into mid-air, knowing the A.I. would be listening.  
"I have been instructed not to let any of the guests into the rest of the compound," a voice from speakers in the ceiling replied.  
"Come on Fri, you know me! I want to go to my room and get change. And Ned really wants to see my room. Please? I promise we won't cause any trouble." The silence indicated the A.I. was considering it.  
"Fine, but I'm only letting you go to your room and back. And I'll be watching."  
"Thanks Fri! You're the best!"

"Is she going to watch you get changed?" Ned asked quietly as they walked down the corridor.  
"Oh crap, I hope not," Peter replied, going slightly red. He was definitely going to tell the A.I. not to watch. He'd not really thought about it, but just how much _did_ F.R.I.D.A.Y. see?


	3. Chapter 3

"Oh, wow, this is so cool!" Ned exclaimed when Peter showed him into his room,  
"It's just a room. It doesn't even have much in it, because I'm barely ever in here."  
"But it's a room in the Avengers' compound! It's your room in the Avengers' compound! You have a room in the Avengers' compound!" Peter smiled at this an opened a drawer, pulling out a pair of black trackies. Hopefully they wouldn't stand out too much. He had a look in another drawer. In terms of tops, he mainly just had a few hoodies, but he thought that would look too casual. He rooted round in the drawer a bit more. He found an Iron Man T-shirt and pulled it out, laughing to himself. Of course the only T-shirt Tony had supplied him with was an Iron Man one. He took the clothes to his en-suite bathroom.  
"Feel free to have a nosy around the room whilst I'm changing!" he told Ned. "And F.R.I.D.A.Y., don't watch me!" he added as an after thought. 

He was just stepping into the trackies when suddenly all the lights went off. Peter's spider-senses were tingling; something was wrong. He quickly pulled his pants on and edged out of the door. It was pretty much pitch black in his room too; he couldn't see anything even with his advanced senses. All he could hear was loud breathing coming from the other side of the room; Ned. Even in his hyper-alert state, the noise hadn't scared him. He was used to the sound of his friend's breathing, and knew it was him, and not an enemy.  
"Ned!"  
"Peter? What's going on?" Ned asked, starting heading in Peter's direction. Peter heard him collide with the bed. Peter went over to him instead.  
"I'm not sure. It seems there's a power cut. F.R.I.D.A.Y., what's going on?" There was no reply. "F.R.I.D.A.Y.?"

Peter went to look at his phone, but realised it was still in the bathroom, so went back to grab him. Luckily he remembered he'd left it on the side of the sink, and didn't accidentally knock it into the toilet or anything. The light from the screen lit up the room slightly as he walked back out to Ned. He tried ringing Mr Stark, but there was no answer, it just rang out, and didn't even transfer over to F.R.I.D.A.Y. like it usually did when Mr Stark didn't pick up. Peter wondered about calling Rhodes or someone, but didn't have anyone else's numbers; F.R.I.D.A.Y. would usually just automatically put him through.

Just then the lights in the room came back on, though not as bright as usual, indicating it was probably back-up power that had kicked in.  
"F.R.I.D.A.Y.?" Peter tried asking again, wondering if she'd be back online now. After a few seconds she answered.  
"Mr Parker?"  
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., what's going on?"  
"I don't know," she replied, sounded uncertain, and almost scared. Peter had never heard the A.I. sound scared before. He'd never really heard her say she didn't know what was going on.  
"The power went off. Are we on back-up power? Did the whole building go down?"  
"I don't know. I think we're on back-up power. I don't know what happened. I don't know what is happening."  
"What!? What do you mean, you don't know what is happening?"  
"I can't see half the building. I went down when the power went off, and when I came back online, I couldn't seem to access half the site."  
"What? Do you know what's going on at the party? Is everyone ok?"  
"I don't know. The function room's in the part I can't see." 

Peter was pretty worried now. F.R.I.D.A.Y. was worrying him. And she didn't know what was going on at the party, she couldn't access the room. Usually F.R.I.D.A.Y. was in charge of the whole site. He had the feeling that the power outage, F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s blind-spot, that might be part of an attack. Someone might be trying to attack the party. Everyone might be in danger. He tried to call Mr Stark again. No answer.  
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., can you get in contact with Mr Stark?"  
"No. He's not answering my calls either. And I can't detect his phone. Normally it's synced with me when he's in the building, but I can't feel it. I'm not in touch with anyone in there. Mr Stark, Vision, anybody."

Peter stood for a few seconds, not sure what to do, feeling overwhelmed. Ned stared at him, looking worried, and like he was waiting for Peter to do something.  
"Well, we're going to have to go check out the room then!" Peter announced suddenly, faking confidence in his plan.  
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" F.R.I.D.A.Y. asked, "You don't know what's out there, what's happening!"  
"It's better than standing around here!"

Peter grabbed a hoodie after all before heading out; it was probably just because his hairs were standing on edge in anticipation, but he felt like he should bring one. He peered a head out of the door before leaving, motioning for Ned to follow once he'd checked it was clear. They headed back in the direction of the function room, Peter leading, looking around all the time and ready to leap if he spotted any threats. They reached a set of double doors to the side of the corridor they were on; the function room was at the end of the corridor on the other side of the doors.  
"Be careful," F.R.I.D.A.Y. warned, from the ceiling speakers, "I can't see anything on the other side of the doors." Peter motioned for Ned to move back, then crouched and reached up a hand to grab the door handle (he'd have webbed it, if he had his web-shooters). He slowly pulled back on the handle, but nothing happened. He pulled harder. The door didn't budge. If he put his full strength into it, he might have been able to force it open, but his instincts told him not to at this stage.  
"We'll try one of the other doors," he announced.

As they walked down the halls of the eerily quiet compound, Peter started thinking about the first time he was there; the day he rejected the Avengers spot. Suddenly he had an idea.  
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., where's the suit? The suit Mr Stark made me for becoming an Avenger. You know, the "iron-spider" one?"  
"I believe it's in Mr Stark's lab."  
"Lets go get it!"  
"I'm not so sure that's a good idea…" F.R.I.D.A.Y. started, but Peter was already sprinting in the direction of the lab, with Ned struggling to keep up. The doors were locked when they got there.  
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., let us in! Come on! I need to get the suit! I promise I won't touch any of Mr Stark's stuff! Please! He's let me in there before…" F.R.I.D.A.Y. considered and relented, opening the door.

Ned nearly had a nerd-gasm seeing all of Tony's prototype Iron Man suits and things he'd been working on. Peter had to drag him away to the corner where F.R.I.D.A.Y. said the Iron-spider suit was.  
"But Peter, it's not going to work!" F.R.I.D.A.Y. protested.  
"What do you mean, of course it is! Open up so I can get it!"  
"The suit isn't initialised. It needs to be calibrated, programmed to you, before it can work, and I can't do that. I don't have the protocols!"  
"What do you mean?"  
"I'm not sure whether Mr Stark hasn't written the protocols, or whether I just can't access them!" F.R.I.D.A.Y. sounded genuinely upset, like she was missing an important part of herself by being shut out of half the compound.  
"Well, can we hack the suit? Ned and I hacked the other suit, removed the "training wheels protocol", we could hack this one!" Ned nodded in agreement, wanting to do something to help the uncertain situation.  
"I don't know whether you could. And it would take too long." That sentence scared them all more than they expected. What was "too long"? They didn't even know what was happening. The feeling that they needed to do something soon was uncomfortable.  
"Well, we have to be able to do something!" Peter exclaimed, exasperated. He looked around the room, "I could wear one of the Iron Man suits!"  
"They're not programmed to you. And they wouldn't fit you anyway. They're built to fit Mr Stark, built to his body proportions," F.R.I.D.A.Y. explained.  
"Well, can you just send the suits yourself? They can fly on their own."  
"No, not without Mr Stark's instruction."  
"Come on F.R.I.D.A.Y., you know this is a necessary scenario!"  
"I can't!" F.R.I.D.A.Y. protested, sounding almost weak. It wasn't that she wouldn't, she couldn't, "Mr Stark doesn't like it when his A.I.s start breaking their protocols…" she added quietly, in explanation.  
"What?" Peter asked, confused.  
"Ultron, dude!" Ned whispered. Peter sighed in understanding. Mr Stark had never said much to him about Ultron (funnily enough, the time he made a genocidal robot wasn't top of Tony's favourite conversations list), but he'd heard about what happened. Though it seemed F.R.I.D.A.Y. ran everything, it made sense that Mr Stark had limited what she could do autonomously. 

Peter grabbed one of the Iron Man helmets off the workbench and put it on.  
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., can you hear me?"  
"I told you Mr Parker, the suits won't work for you," the A.I. replied, straight into the helmet.  
"I'll just have to go without them then. But I can wear this at least." The helmet might protect him slightly (or at least protect his head, even if that left the rest of his body vulnerable), and would conceal his identity. He didn't know what he was going to do, but he had to do something.  
"Ned, stay here. Try to get into the computer system and see what's keeping F.R.I.D.A.Y. out of the rest of the building."  
"What are you going to do?"  
"I'm off back to the function room. I'm going to find out what's going on!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are starting to get interesting! I still haven't come up with the ending, so you may have to wait a little while for the next chapter (but I promise I'll write it eventually!)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to post this update, but I've not had chance to fully proof-read it, so if you see any typos, let me know.

"This is as far as I can see," F.R.I.D.A.Y. informed Peter, outside a corridor leading back to the function room.  
"Ok. So once I've broken through these doors, you probably won't be able to communicate with me anymore?"  
"I'm not sure. But I think maybe not."  
"Ok. Well, good luck F.R.I.D.A.Y. If nothing else, make sure Ned's ok. And keep trying to get help." He made to try yank the door open.  
"Wait!"  
"Look Fri, I know you might think this is a bad idea, but I'm doing it. I can't just sit back and do nothing. I think everyone's in danger."  
"There's a vent in the ceiling," F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced. That wasn't what Peter was expecting. "I think you might be small enough to fit through, even with your big "spider-biceps"."  
"Haha, don't you start too, Fri…"  
"I believe the vent should run to the function room, if you go straight on then left at the end," she told him, her voice still slightly jovial in tone, as if trying to cover up the seriousness of the situation.  
"Thanks, Fri," Peter told her, climbing round onto the ceiling and managing to pull the grate off the vent system, "I guess I'll see you on the other side." With that he pulled himself into the vent, and started crawling along. Almost straight away, the heads-up display went blank. He must have passed over into F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s blind spot.

It was nearly pitch black in the vents, so he was navigating by feel. He felt himself nearly crash into the end of the tunnel. This was where he should turn left. He could see a faint light at the end, and hear music. What did that mean? Was the party still going on? Maybe everyone was ok? He crept towards it, trying to keep quiet, but the music should drown out any noise he made. He looked through the slits of the grate at the end.

Everything was not alright. Even though it wasn't especially bright down there, it still hurt his eyes and he had to give them a minute to adjust. He was shocked by what he saw. There was multiple men with guns standing around the function room, and the guests were sat/lying on the floor, most of them unconscious. Most were scattered around, being watched over by the men with guns, but there was a group of to the side which had more attention surrounding them, and were all tied up. This group contained the Avengers, amongst others. All the Avengers (well, the few Avengers who were still Avengers and not wanted "criminals") except Vision. Vision was trapped in some kind of electric cage. Whatever it was, it was dampening his powers, and he was laid on the floor of it looking weaker than Peter had ever seen his look. 

Peter looked on with horror. It wasn't clear what the gunmen were doing (besides holding the room hostage), but one of them appeared to be on the phone with someone. The man occasionally looked down on Tony with a sick, amused look. Tony wasn't moving at all, clearly unconscious. Pepper was lying near him, also tied up, but partially awake. She looked pretty out of it, but she was glancing between the too with concerned horror. 

Peter couldn't hear what was being said on the phone over the music, despite his advanced hearing. But he could guess it was bad. This whole situation was bad. He needed to do something. A large part of him wanted to storm in there, but the rational part of him knew that was a terrible idea; he'd just get captured himself, or even worse, trigger the gunmen into starting shooting the party-goers. He needed a plan.

He crawled back out of the vents. Once he dropped down into the corridor, F.R.I.D.A.Y. came back online in his helmet.  
"Peter!" she exclaimed, sounding relieved.  
"There's gunmen in there! They've taken them all hostage! I think they've drugged them. I think they drugged the drinks." That would make sense, based on what he saw. He'd noticed that some of those who looked fully awake, were those who hadn't been drinking that night, like some of the support staff at the compound who were officially meant to be working that evening, but Tony had encouraged to come along to come along to the party. It would also explain why some people had been acting particularly out of it just before Peter and Ned had left the room; that was probably the drug starting to take effect. 

Peter explained everything he'd seen to F.R.I.D.AY. (and she played it in the lab so Ned could hear too).  
"We have to do something!" Peter exclaimed desperately, trying to come up with a plan. "They must have cause the power shut-down. If we could shut the power off to them, then not only would all the lights go out and they wouldn't be able to see, but it would hopefully release Vision from the cage. Ned, do you reckon you can get into the system and shut down the power to them?"  
"I can try. I think I'm nearly into the computer system. Hopefully…"  
"Ok, keep trying to do that. If we can shut the power down suddenly, I can attack at the same time and hopefully try and take them down. If only I had my suit, or at least my web-shooters. I'd try and make some now, but there's not time."  
"There's a chance, a small chance, that we might be able to find some web-shooters…" F.R.I.D.A.Y. interjected.  
"What, why didn't you tell me before? Where?"  
"There's probably not, it's probably too much to hope. But Mr Stark has a drawer full of bits and pieces he's been working on in his room. Miss Potts doesn't like it when he starts building stuff outside the lab, but he has been known to start fiddling with projects in the middle of the night. He could have parts from when he first built your suit. I can't look back to check, not on back-up power, but there's a chance."  
"Direct me to his room, F.R.I.D.A.Y. Lets hope there's something there that can help us."

***

Peter rooted through the drawer, discarding random pieces of metal, half-built repulsers, tangles of wire. At first he didn’t think there was any web-shooters, and his heart fell. But then he pulled out something. It didn't look like any web-shooter he'd used before (though it probably shared the most resemblance to those from Peter's original home-made suit), but it appeared it might be what he was looking for. He put it on and tried to fire it. A web shot out. It wasn't as accurate or powerful as those he was used to, but it was a functioning web-shooter. It would do. 

He grabbed one of the repulsers too, the one that looked most likely to work. He didn't try it, not certain that it wouldn't explode if he tried, but he thought it might bring it to try use if he got desperate enough. Kitted up, he headed back in the direction of the function room.

"How we doing Ned? Are you into the power grid yet?"  
"Just about.. Yes, I think I am!" his friend declared joyously.  
"Great. Lets do this! I won't be able to communicate with you once I enter the vent so we need to coordinate this. I need to enter just as you turn the power off. That's our only chance of pulling this off!" 

They coordinated watches, agreeing that Ned would turn the power off in exactly five minutes time. They shared an emotional moment before Peter pulled himself up into the vent.  
"Good luck… Spider-Man. You've got this!"  
"Good luck… man in the chair. We've got this!"  
Peter took a breath, psyching himself up. He had to pull this off. Everyone in that room's lives depended on it.


	5. Chapter 5

Peter checked his watch before he gazed out of the vent slits. He had just over a minute left. Things appeared to have got more heated since last time he looked down on the room. The gunman on the phone was shouting, but hung up angrily before Peter had a chance to properly listen in.   
"Fine then." Peter heard that. He watched in horror as the man pointed his gun towards Mr Stark, who was still lying limply on the ground, arms and legs bound. This wasn't a threat anymore. Whatever had angered the man during the phone conversation had led him to decide he was going to shoot Tony Stark. Peter set to work panically pulling off the screws holding the grate on. As soon as power went off, he needed to be ready. But would it be too late? He counted down the time. There was still ten seconds left, and the man looked ready to pull the trigger. Tony's only chance was if the guy took his time, savouring the moment and the look on the faces of the members of his audience who were actually conscious.

Three. Two. One.

Peter launched himself through the grate just as the lights went out and the music suddenly halted. He fired a web at the ceiling; he could barely see anything in the dark, but had imprinted in his mind exactly where he needed to go. He dropped himself down onto the gunman, just as he heard the sound of the gun firing. He couldn't stop to check whether the bullet hit it's target or not, he had to stop the rest of the gunmen, take advantage of the confusion the sudden power cut had caused.  
"Vision, take them down!" he yelled whilst yanking a gun away with a web, not looking to see if the android was free or able to follow his instruction, just hoping he was, and that hearing Peter's voice might help him focus on the situation at hand, rather than getting lost in the confusion too. Peter heard a bullet bounce off his Iron Man helmet. Clearly wearing it had been a good idea. He continued trying to grab as many guns as he could as quickly as he could. He heard gunfire, but didn't know whether anyone had been hit. His Spider-sense was in overdrive, warning him of threats all around, and it took everything he had to not be overwhelmed, taking down as many gunmen as he possibly could. 

The gunmen seemed to be starting to catch on to what was happening, and focusing all their efforts towards him. At least that meant that the hostages were less in danger; those who were awake were moving to the edges of the room, and those who were not were on the ground, so as long as Peter kept the gunfire focused above them, they should be safe. He, on the other hand, was in great danger. He might be safe from headshots, but not anything else-shots. He tried to keep moving as much as possible, flying up and down on his webs. The number of assailants was decreasing; some he was disarming, and some had been taken out by friendly fire from their comrades. But there was still so many. He took the risk and fired the repulser at a large group of them; it took them out, but also kind of exploded, mildly burning Peter's hand. Just when he thought he was certain to get hit, a flash of light appeared, taking out a whole line of them. Peter turned around, and saw Vision, firing his weird head beam thing. They shared a look of camaraderie, and together managed to deal with the last of the gun men. 

Peter scanned around in the darkness, watching for any threat they had missed. Suddenly the display in his helmet lit up.  
"Peter?" He heard F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s voice ask.  
"I'm here. I think we did it," he answered, out of breath and uncertain. The lights in the room came back on; dimmed (perhaps intentionally for Peter's benefit), but it still took him a second to adjust.  
"I would recommend any assailants stand down," F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s voice announced loudly over the speakers.  
"Yeah, otherwise you'll get your asses kicked! Again!" Ned's voice added. Peter smiled.   
"We're back in control of the building," Ned told Peter, this time directly into the helmet. 

Just then, the doors flew open and a SWAT team ran in, ensuring the gunmen were secure, then checking on the hostages. Peter looked around, checking to see if any of the hostages seemed to be hurt. Many still seemed to be unconscious, or groggy, but they appeared to be unharmed. Vision was helping untie those who were tied up. Peter went over to help. He was just about to untie Pepper, when he looked across and saw Mr Stark lying awkwardly on his side. The noise of the gunshot he heard replayed in his head.  
"Mr Stark! Mr Stark! Are you alright!?" Peter called frantically, whilst turning him over. He felt an arm try to push him away.  
"I'm fine, get off…" Tony's voice answered groggily.  
"You're ok!"  
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be? What's going on?" he asked, opening his eyes and staring towards Peter. He jumped slightly when he saw the Iron Man mask in his face. Peter stepped back slightly, giving him some space.  
"The party was attacked. There was gunmen. Don't worry, you're safe now, I took them down." Tony smirked at the reversal of the normal situation.  
"Good on you kid." He pushed himself up to a normal sitting position (with a bit of difficulty), and Peter went to untie him.

"Mr Stark, OMG, you've been shot!" Peter exclaimed, seeing the bullet wound in Tony's shoulder on returning to stand in front of him. Tony glanced down.  
"Barely," he replied, sounding relatively calm (maybe partly due to the effect of whatever he'd been drugged with that was still in his system).  
"If my tiny scratch the other week counted as having been shot, that most certainly does!"   
"Oh, so you think you're an expert on what counts as getting shot now do you? As well as, it appears, Iron Man?" Tony asked sarcastically, indicating at the Iron Man helmet and T-shirt Peter was wearing, as well as the burnt-out repulser he still held in his hand.  
"Well, Iron-Spider-Man," Peter countered, rolling up his other sleeve to show the web-shooter. "I tried to be actual Iron-Spider-Man, but F.R.I.D.A.Y. said that the suit needed to be calibrated or something."  
"Yeah, we really need to get around to doing that…"  
"Really?"  
"Yeah, there's no point in a multi-million dollar suit sitting around unused. It's time you get to use it. Plus, then you'd have your current suit as a spare, and that would really be a good idea. Having a spare. And that old onesie you used to wear really doesn't count."  
"Oh, wow, Mr Stark, that would be amazing! What new features does the other suit have? What can it do? Does it still have Karen?" Peter started speed-talking away, until Tony held up a finger to interrupt him.  
"We can talk about all that later. But since you’re an expert on "being shot", maybe you might agree that I should do something about my shoulder first?" Peter nodded, his mind returning to the current situation with a look of concern about his mentor. He stepped out of the way to let a team of arriving medics in to look at Tony.

"You did a good job kid," Rhodey patted him on the shoulder. He'd had less to drink, so had been pretty much awake during Peter's rescue (although still unable to see much of it, considering it happened in the dark). "That was a proper superhero rescue you did there."  
"It wasn't just me. I couldn't have done it without Ned and F.R.I.D.A.Y…" Peter started in reply, getting interrupted almost on cue, by Ned running into the room, calling his name.  
"You're ok!" his friend exclaimed, looking him up and down as if to make sure there wasn't any bullet holes in him that Peter had missed. "That was super scary! I mean, I didn't even know what was happening in most of it, because I was still trying to get F.R.I.D.A.Y. back into control, but still!"  
"You did awesome Ned!" Peter agreed, suddenly joining Ned's level of enthusiasm. They shared their secret handshake. Rhodey made a quick exit, thinking to himself "I'm not sober enough to deal with… that." Now whatever he'd been drugged with was wearing off, he was feeling pretty rough, and kind of resenting the teenagers' energy levels.

After a short while, F.R.I.D.A.Y. interrupted Peter and Ned's reunion, suggesting that Peter might want to sneak back out to his room whilst no one was paying attention to him.  
"For the benefit of your secret identity, you might want to pretend that it wasn't you that saved the day."  
"I'm wearing a mask…" Peter countered (but walking in the direction of his room anyway). F.R.I.D.A.Y. unlocked the corridor doors to let him and Ned through (and relocked them to prevent anyone from following them).   
"Yes, but you're not wearing your Spider-Man costume are you? It probably wouldn't take a big leap for the guests to realise you're Tony Stark's intern in an Iron Man mask, particularly considering the fact you were missing for the hostage situation. And the way Ned greeted you just then."  
"Oops!" Ned added, looking guilty, that he might have compromised Peter's secret identity.  
"It's not the end of the world," F.R.I.D.A.Y. reassured him, "I would imagine that most people that were there and noticed, probably already knew or had suspicions that you are Spider-Man anyway. It's not like you're identity is fully out in public. But I would still recommend the story you two go with is that you were locked in the bathroom the whole time. And Mr Parker, you should probably change back into your suit." Peter was confused for a minute. The whole problem had been that he didn't have his Spider-suit with him. But then he understood. The too small, alcohol-soaked homecoming suit. He groaned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm not 100% happy with the way I resolved the hostage situation (but I guess that's the problem when you start writing without knowing where you're going with it). I'll probably add a final chapter at some point to wrap everything up.


	6. Chapter 6

Peter grimaced as he pulled the broken repulser from his hand. He should have removed it before. His burnt skin had started to heal onto it, and some of it got ripped off with the repulser. He looked cautiously at the sore flesh underneath; it looked quite messy right now, but wasn't anything his advanced healing couldn't deal with. He rinsed the hand under the sink, wincing as the cold water stung against his flesh. Reluctantly he put his damp suit back on, and stepped out of his bathroom. Ned was lying on his bed, looking a little overwhelmed no he'd had a few minutes on his own to think over the whole situation. Peter wasn't sure what to do next.  
"Shall we head over to the med bay to check Mr Stark's ok?" he suggested.  
"Mr Stark is not in the med bay," F.R.I.D.A.Y. informed them.  
"What!?" Peter asked, concerned, "Where is he? Is he ok?"  
"Mr Stark is fine," F.R.I.D.A.Y. replied calmly (and sounding almost exasperated/amused at Peter's panic), "Or at least, in no clinical danger. He's pretty much the same as last time you saw him. Except complaining more. He's at St Francis' hospital, a couple of miles away."  
"Why?" Peter asked, this time more calmly.  
"Because all the team who were meant to be working in the med bay here happened to be involved in a hostage situation, so aren't really in the right frame of mind right now to be dealing with an eccentric, and now slightly grumpy, billionaire with a bullet wound in his shoulder."  
"Ah right. That makes sense."  
"It does," F.R.I.D.A.Y. agreed. The A.I. seemed in a much better mood now she was back in control of the whole compound. Her world was right again. She left a few seconds of silence before adding, "By the way, the two of you might want to consider checking your phones. Ned I believe has five missed calls from his parents, and three voicemails, and Peter, you have eight missed calls from your aunt, and six voicemails." Both boys' faces suddenly came overcome with panic, as they scrambled to pull their phones out of their pockets. "Mr Leeds, might I advise you to stick to the official story, that you were stuck in the bathroom, and saw and heard nothing? And Mr Parker… good luck!" 

***

It was Sunday morning and Peter was just popping out of the apartment to buy more milk (as there was none left, and he really relied on coffee to wake up in a morning). He stepped outside into the sunshine, then looked up in shock. Mr Stark was stood outside his apartment block, having just gotten out of an ostentatious red convertible with Happy behind the wheel. His arm was in a sling, but he looked his typical cool self, in a flash suit and sunglasses.  
"Ah Peter, good, you're here! I was just going to go up and get you."  
"Mr Stark? What are you doing here? Is everything ok?"   
"Get in bitch, we're off shopping!"  
"What!?"  
"Please don't tell me you're too young to have seen Mean Girls?"  
"No. But what?"  
"Have you forgotten? I said I'd take you shopping this morning." Now he said that, Peter did recall Mr Stark telling him that, when he arrived at the party. But with everything that had happened afterwards, he'd forgotten, and was surprised Tony hadn't, considering he'd been drunk, drugged, held hostage and shot since then.  
"Is that still happening?" In answer, Tony gestured (one armed), at the car.  
"Come on, I've not got all day."  
"I'll have to let my aunt know then." Peter took his phone out of his pocket and looked down at himself. He was wearing a pair of old trackies and a slightly too small hoodie. "And I'm not really dressed for going out."  
"Well, we can change that when we're shopping. Chop, chop, call your aunt."

"Hi aunt May."  
"Peter? I only sent you out to get one thing. Surely you can't have forgotten what you're meant to be buying?"  
"Erm, no. Look, I'm I've bumped into Mr Stark, and I'd forgotten I said I'd meet him today, after you know, everything…"  
"What? Where are you going?" May asked, sounding concerned, and not particularly like she agreed with the idea. Tony started gesturing for Peter to pass him the phone.

"Hi May, it's Tony,"… "Yeah, no, nothing dangerous,"… "I promise, no super-heroics, no kidnappings, just hanging out in town,"…"Yes,"… "Yes,"… "Sure,"… "Great! Nice talking with you!" Tony handed Peter the phone back, smiling.  
"All sorted. You're aunt says it's ok." He gestured at the car, for Peter to climb in the back. 

"So are you alright?" Peter asked, "after, you know, everything on Friday night?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine, kid. Thanks to you. I didn't really say at the time, but you did amazing. There wasn't much in the way of footage to watch, but I've looked over all the information F.R.I.D.A.Y. has, trying to piece together what happened. I'm definitely inviting you and Ned again to my next party!" Tony told him, smiling, but then, thinking that maybe this was getting too complementary, added "Granted, I still have a few pointers for you, so don't go getting too big for your boots now. But we can do a proper debrief another time. Today's about some retail therapy, and making sure you're looking stylish for when you have to save the day next party!"

Tony didn't say anything more about Friday evening, but Peter had more questions. He'd spent Saturday with them running through his head, whilst he'd tried to do his homework. The press had reported that there had been an attack on an event at the Avengers' compound (which was how Aunt May and Ned's parents had heard about it in the first place), but there was very few details. That was probably a good thing, at least for Peter's secret identity, but was annoying when he had questions, but didn't want to pester them whilst they dealt with the aftermath of it all.  
"So… did you find out who attacked the party, and why?" he asked intrepidly.  
"We're still working on that," Tony replied, in a way that suggested he wasn't totally shutting down the conversation, but wasn't going to tell Peter much right now. "We think they were linked to the people from… the people you came across the other month…" he added.  
"The ones who tried to drown me?"   
"Oh, no, not those people. The ones you overheard when I was out on your patrol with you. The ones with the EMP, that lead to us being trapped in that metal room for hours."  
"Oh… those guys. Right." 

Tony didn't add anything else. Peter didn't press the matter. Tony would fill him in later. Peter was starting to realise that he could trust Tony, and Tony was starting to realise he could trust Peter. The kid had somehow managed to grow on him. It was something that the old him would never imagine himself thinking, but he was really going to enjoy spending the day together with Peter, just hanging around town; shopping, getting lunch, hanging out.   
"Oh God, what happened to me?" Tony thought to himself, but despite that, he had a big smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wasn't sure how to end the story, and how much to wrap up the storyline. I've probably left the bad-guy plot far too vague, but I was more interested in telling the adventure than a detailed villain plot.   
> If there's anything you think I really need to add, let me know :)


End file.
